Feeding a Paper-Cutout Dao Companion

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Jiang Zhaoxue drifted homeless as a spirit for a long time. His biggest dream was to grow a Glazed Ginseng and use it to forge himself a body.

But the Glazed Ginseng he'd painstakingly raised to maturity was absorbed by a damn Immortal Lord, who wouldn't even admit it.

With his Glazed Ginseng stolen and his land seized, Jiang Zhaoxue could only disguise himself as a paper doll, swallow his pride, and lurk by the damn Immortal Lord's side to grow another one.

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The Immortal Lord had just taken on a pretty new attendant. He wasn't very good at his job, but he was remarkably brazen about stealing things.

After brewing tea, he'd swipe a thousand-year-old drop of spiritual dew. After wiping the table, he'd swipe a hundred-year-old spirit pill. After making pastries, he'd swipe the core of a rare demonic beast...

All those precious drops of spiritual dew and spirit pills were used as fertilizer for a carrot sprout. From time to time, he'd whisper to it, "I risked my life to sneak all these out. Make sure you grow up big and strong after absorbing them, okay?"

A passing immortal child: "???"

Someone reported the matter to the Immortal Lord.

After hearing them out, the Immortal Lord thought for a moment and said seriously, "The lock on the treasury is difficult to pick and might hurt his hands. Replace it with an ordinary lock that's easier to open."

Everyone: "..."

Later, the little lonely spirit was caught picking a lock and nearly cried out in fright.

I'm dead, I'm dead. That bastard Immortal Lord is definitely going to beat me until my soul scatters.

But the person who caught him was even more frightened than he was, muttering, "I didn't see this menace. I didn't see him, I didn't see him..."

Jiang Zhaoxue: "?"

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The Glazed Ginseng grew bigger each day, but Jiang Zhaoxue heard that the Immortal Lord had a white moonlight in his heart, someone who had died long ago. A hundred years earlier, that person had sacrificed himself to take a tribulation for the Immortal Lord, his soul scattering in the process. The Immortal Lord had been trying to reassemble his soul ever since.

The precious heavenly materials Jiang Zhaoxue had used as fertilizer were treasures the Immortal Lord had gathered for his white moonlight, searching through purgatory and the lands of extreme cold to find them.

Jiang Zhaoxue quietly packed his things and left, but the Immortal Lord intercepted him.

Jiang Zhaoxue's eyes turned red. "I won't take your things anymore."

The Immortal Lord lowered his long eyes. "Why? Don't you like them?"

Jiang Zhaoxue: "...?"

The Immortal Lord: "Since you've already taken so much, why not take everything that's left?"

Jiang Zhaoxue: "!!!"

The Immortal Lord slowly drew closer. "If you don't want to take any of it, how about taking me?"

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Coming next: I Cultivate the Unfeeling Dao, But I'm Faking It. Click the author's profile to check it out→

Shi Que cultivates the Unfeeling Dao just to have an excuse to live like a lazy fish. The Unfeeling Dao is a handy brick: he uses it wherever he needs an excuse.

The Sect Leader tells him to take on a disciple.

Shi Que: "No. I cultivate the Unfeeling Dao, so I can't let the bonds between master and disciple hold me back."

His senior asks him to compete in the Immortal Alliance tournament.

Shi Que: "No. I cultivate the Unfeeling Dao, so I can't be tempted by fame or fortune."

Everyone says Shi Que has an otherworldly air, like an exiled immortal. No one knows this cold and aloof Immortal Venerable has drawers full of dried fruit and snacks, a study stuffed with pinwheel toys, and sneaks down the mountain in disguise every few days to have fun, with one playmate after another.

Then, during a lecture on the Immortal Dao, the Unfeeling Dao Patriarch, who had ascended a thousand years ago, suddenly descended to discuss the Dao with him.

Shi Que panicked. He'd forgotten all his teachings.

What panicked him even more was that the Patriarch, now a demigod with snow-white hair and the graceful beauty of a frosty moon, had exactly the same face as the little playmate Shi Que had once loved and abandoned.

Everyone envied Shi Que for receiving personal guidance from the Dao Patriarch, a blessing they might not attain even after a hundred years of cultivation.

In a secluded corner, Shi Que's eyes grew wet as he trembled and recited his cultivation manual from memory.

The Dao Patriarch lifted his chin, his thumb brushing Shi Que's reddened lips. "You got it wrong again. Another punishment. You used to be so quick with your words. How come you can't even recite the manual after spending a few days playing with someone else?"

From the gong's perspective:

A thousand years ago, Xie Mingci ascended through the Unfeeling Dao and became the most powerful person in the world, his strength almost able to rival the Heavenly Dao.

A thousand years later, tired of struggling against the Heavenly Dao, he descended in another form and met a weak, lazy good-for-nothing who loved flirting and couldn't be gotten rid of.

The lazy good-for-nothing took him out to have fun, taught him to lie flat, and, when thunder rumbled at night, worried he might be scared and insisted they share a bed. Xie Mingci's gaze fell on the good-for-nothing's pale, delicate neck, and he turned and walked away.

Later, the good-for-nothing suddenly ran away and destroyed all traces of his identity.

Xie Mingci sat alone in the empty room all night, his Dao heart unsteady and a faint red glimmer in his dark eyes.

Theme: Speak kindly and build a bridge of good communication.